Although the prior art discloses means for raising playing pieces from a lower level to a higher level using a lever-actuated reciprocating elevator mechanism, no previous device discloses the distinctive features and advantages of the present invention.
Converse U.S. Pat. No. 348,952 discloses a toy which is so arranged that as balls are added to the bottom of a stack of balls, the stack is forced upward, and when the stack has reached the height of the outlet, the ball at the top of the stack emerges through an outlet hole. As a result, the device cannot operate unless several balls are employed, whereas the present invention will operate if one or more balls are employed. Second, the Converse device is so arranged that a ball can only be vertically displaced by its own diameter when the lever is raised and lowered once, which means that the lever must be raised and lowered several times before balls begin to emerge from the outlet hole for the first time. By contrast, in the present invention, a playing piece will emerge the first time the lever is raised and lowered. Third, the Converse patent requires that a spring catch be employed to support the column of balls, while the present invention requires no such catch in order to function properly.
Johnson U.S. Pat. No. 3,012,364 also differs importantly from the present invention. In order to transfer a ball from the inlet hole to the outlet hole, Johnson uses lower and upper movable receptacles, having oppositely slanted lifting surfaces, and a fixed intermediate receptacle having a hinged lower face which changes its inclination in response to movement of the slideably-mounted rod. The process requires that the lever be raised and lowered twice before the first ball emerges. Unlike the Johnson invention, the present invention uses a single moveable lifting surface which is fixed with respect to the slideable rod to raise the playing piece. Also, a playing piece emerges from the outlet hole the first time the lever is raised and lowered. The present invention also discloses an innovation whereby entrance and exit paths, when viewed along the axis of the standard, are transverse to each other. This allows a single lifting surface with constant inclination to perform the same function as Johnson's two lifting surfaces and his intermediate receptacle having a lower surface with changing inclination.